<p>"I have big doubts about the LOR usefulness in large public schools. :</p>
<p>I have doubts about the LOR usefulness in large public schools, too. I think it’s a bit of a shell game. But nonetheless, there’s nothing I can do about it, and see, I treated the adcoms as people of good faith. You, on the other hand, don’t seem to treat anyone in good faith. You’re sort of suspicious and paranoid about the process from the very beginning. It’s a shame, really. SlitheyTove is right - you didn’t go to school here, you haven’t had a kid through the process, but you seem to think you know about how things go despite those of us who are trying to tell you otherwise. </p>
<p>Are they teaching that AP class in the auditorium? Our school doesn’t hesitate to pack em in up to about 35 or so but we don’t have classrooms nearly large enough for 100 and that would probably prompt a complaint to the fire marshal.</p>
<p>OP, I have serious doubts that any HS class has 100 people in it. I have lived in several states, with kids in HS, and NEVER have known of a class with more than 35 children. </p>
<p>OTOH, it certainly is possible for the teacher of US History to have three AP sections of 35 each. I still don’t think every senior is going to ask them for a recommendation. My son both had the same APUSH teacher. My older son slacked off in that class and did not ask for a recommendation, while my younger son loved the class and the teacher and asked him at the end of junior year.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reminder, mathmom! Saintkid #2 has some jester tendencies and his teachers will all remember him for sure, but some more fondly than others. He needs to ID the kindred spirits and get them locked down for recs. </p>
<p>If he doesn’t get a good letter should I be mad at the kid or the teacher who doesn’t appreciate his obviously superior talents and effort? :O) </p>
<p>@californiaaa- sorry it took time to respond, I was at the award ceremony for the top 25 kids in the graduating class (of approx. 250). Our school has a nice touch with this. EVERY teacher each of those students had throughout HS writes a message of congratulations to each student- and each student writes a message of thanks to EVERY teacher they had. These were delivered last week- and each student chooses one teacher that they would like to have read their message at the ceremony- and then they read their message to the teacher back. I was honored that 7 of the 25 wished to be recognized, and to recognize me. BTW- I only did letters for 4 of the top 25 this year. The other 7 I wrote were I suppose for the “mediocre” (irony intended) ranked 25-50 or so. But I digress…</p>
<p>To remind you of an earlier place in your thoughts…
1:48PM<br>
“We have over 100 kids per teacher in AP classes. Obviously, teacher doesn’t remember them.”</p>
<p>If your top ranked school is putting 100 kids in an AP class- I can’t imagine how it is getting a good rating. I am not from California, nor do I teach there- so I have no idea what laws govern education there- but I can tell you that would be illegal in any of the three states where I HAVE taught- and seems highly suspect. Also- not sure WHAT AP classes you are referring to- I teach AP World History, AP European History, and AP US History currently- and there is NO way I could grade the volume of writing necessary if a had 100 kids per class- those kids need to be prepared to write 3 different essay- and I have them practice 18 of them overall. I will have had 120+ students this year- but my school uses block schedule so that I only teach 3 classes a semester (84 min each) rather than 6 (typically 50 min each) I have about 20 students per class. This semester I have 63 kids total… last semester I think I had 65. My district caps classes at 27 (deliberately that is the number of desks in room- kind of funny, but very effective). I remember every one of them. Because I teach 3 different AP classes (although AP World is an elective that is only offered every other year) I have most of my students 2x, some 3x. I am deeply offended by your sweeping statements about teachers. Again- I don’t know ANYTHING about the school your child attends- but if your children had 100+ kids in their classes, and the teachers don’t know their names… maybe you should be mad at the school- not at the quality of letter offered to your child…</p>
<p>@Californiaaa
“And what other kids are doing? If 90% of kids are applying to colleges … where do they get recommendation letters? I thought that teacher’s rec letter is a must …”. The students at my school have 32 teachers throughout school. In my experience junior/senior teachers get asked the most often. Every teacher chooses for themselves how many letters they will right- after all- we don’t HAVE to, we do it b/c we WANT to help the kids (which is yet another reason I find your comments offensive the 11 letters I wrote this year represent probably 20 hours of my personal time). It seems to balance itself out- I have never heard of a student that couldn’t get a letter. BTW- different colleges require different things… and not EVERY one of the 96% of students from my district moving on to college are applying to Harvard/Stanford/UCLA/Whatever other school you deemed acceptable, so some people choose to include letters from other sources. For example- my D applied for a BFA program (she will be attending a program whose acceptance rates are less than 1/2 of Ivys… in fact, several of the programs she applied for take less than 15 kids out of the several thousand that auctioned) She had only 1 academic recommendation, and then 2 artistic… although to be fair- she attended a performing arts HS, and so her artistic recommender had been instructors as well.</p>
<p>Anyway- just wanted to be courteous and answer your question. Now I will go back to practicing names for graduation. I am reading the class this year… and I want to do it from memory.</p>
<p>Our school decided kids “need” to “learn how to take an online course”. Perhaps @californiaaa’s school decided kids "need’ to “learn how to take a large lecture course”. And incidentally that probably saves some money for the school. I’ve never heard of such a thing in a public high school, but apparently this school is nonetheless highly rated. What would be the outcry if inner-city schools had a class with 100 kids in it?</p>
<p>Maybe they put all the classes together for one special lecture, and this is being misunderstood. It is possible to misunderstand information if one lacks familiarity.</p>
<p>If the class meets in the auditorium, I don’t think it’s a misunderstanding. Maybe it was the only way they could offer that class to all the kids and everyone decided it was the best solution.</p>
<p>I don’t know about an AP class with 100 kids. However, I do know that last year each of my husband’s 3 AP science classes had 42 students in them, as did his two honors classes for a total student load of 210 students weekly as a teacher in a high school that gets fairly good ratings from a number of sources. In her sr. year my D had 40+ kids in three of her AP classes. In the 4th there were only 35 students, but the teacher was expected to handle French 3 and AP French simultaneously. So a team taught AP class with 100 kids doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility to me. I would hope there were smaller discussion sessions of some kind. This was in California as well.</p>
<p>I agree with eascoascrazy. Most of the children who were given preference actually deserve it. He said:</p>
<p>"Or, be mad at:
That lucky athlete (Whose parents haven’t had a vacation in ten years. They put 150,000 miles on the car in two years, and have spent more than that scholarship is worth on travel, club team and equipment expenses over the years.)
That lucky musician (Who wasn’t allowed to play a sport for the last five years to protect his fingers, and who has practiced hours every day since he was six. His parents have spent thousands of dollars every year on lessons, instruments and travel expenses.)
That lucky kid with the famous father (Who also has a 4.0 unweighted GPA, 2300 SAT, and won a national competition for an original creative piece.)
That lucky girl with the ethnic last name (Who hasn’t seen her father in 16 years.)
That lucky kid who got a full ride (Who lives with his grandmother because his mother is a drug addict and his dad is in prison.)
<p>"If your top ranked school is putting 100 kids in an AP class- I can’t imagine how it is getting a good rating. "</p>
<p>AP in Chemistry. Large auditorium. During lab time, teacher has assistants. Technically, it is legal, because there are more than one adult per 100 kids in class. </p>
<p>It is a magnet school, kids are pre-selected. The attitude is “if you don’t like it, please leave our school”. </p>
He needs to ID the kindred spirits and get them locked down for recs. </p>